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Poll showed the far-right National Rally Party in the lead after voting finished in the first round of France's parliamentary election.

Ipsos, a pollster, put Marine Le Pen's party at 34% of the vote, with the left-wing new popular front on 28.1%.

The centrist block, headed by Emmanuel Macron, France's president, flagged behind with around 20%.

Turnout was the highest of any first round parliamentary election since 1997.

Miss Le Penh will hope to capitalize on her party's strong showing when the final round of voting is held on July 7th.

Joe Biden, America's President, continued to resist calls for him to give way to another candidate

after a terrible performance in Thursday's presidential debate.

Over the weekend, Senior Democrats rushed to defend his candidacy.

Hakim Jeffries, the Democratic leader of the House of Representatives, said Mr Biden's, quote,

setback was nothing more than the setup for a comeback.

Meanwhile, a poll by CBS News and U-Gove released on Sunday showed that 45% of registered

Democratic voters think Mr Biden should step aside. Iran will hold a presidential runoff on July 5th, after neither of the front runners secured more than 50% of the vote in the first round.

Government officials said,

...